The whereabouts of Cameroon opposition leader Maurice Kamto
remained unknown Tuesday, following his arrest on Monday night in the
economic capital, Douala.
The
Cameroon Renaissance Movement's (MRC) third vice-president, Mr Emmanuel
Simh, said Prof Kamto was taken to an unknown destination.
Mr
Simh also said that prior to Prof Kamto's arrest, the MRC treasurer,
Prof Alain Fogue Tedom, was also arrested and placed in custody at the
Yaoundé Judicial Police for reasons of "insurrection and property
destruction".
The government has not reacted while local media outlets were giving conflicting reports.
Whereas
some claimed the MRC boss was being held at the judicial police in
Douala, others were reporting that he was ferried to Yaoundé immediately
after his arrest.
Party members
MRC, in a press release
on Tuesday, called on its members and sympathisers to remain calm and
attentive to instructions the party national directorate would give.
Prof Kamto maintains he won the country’s presidential election last October.
The
MRC secretary-general secretary, Mr Christopher Ndong, said the
opposition leader was arrested alongside several other party members.
“Police
officers came shooting in the air, dispersed militants and arrested
Prof Kamto at Albert Dzongang’s [a supporter of the opposition leader]
residence in Douala,” Mr Ndong said, adding that the latter too was
arrested.
Mr Celestine Djamen, who was wounded during
the MRC-organised protest march on Saturday, was pulled from his
hospital bed during the raid and ferried to the judicial police in
Douala, according to Mr Ndong.
Popular musician
Prof
Kamto has continuously insisted that he won the presidential poll,
whose official result show he emerged a distant second with 14.23
percent vote. His supporters have been organising sporadic protests
against what they term “an electoral hold-up” in defiance of a
government warning against post-electoral disorder.
At
least 117 people, including Prof Kamto’s former campaign manager, Mr
Paul Eric Kingue, and popular musician Gaston Serval Abe (known by his
artistic name as Valsero), were arrested during protest marches in
several towns including Yaoundé and Bafoussam at the weekend.
Saturday’s
nationwide “white marches” by the opposition party were unauthorised
according to Communication minister, Rene Emmanuel Sadi. He said those
arrested were “caught disrupting public order and perpetrating various
assaults”.
However, according to Mr Simh, the aim of
the “unjustified political arrests, was to decapitate” the political
party and “its winning coalition” around its leader, Prof Kamto.
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